Singapore faced shocking scenes of burning cars and littered streets Monday following a riot by South Asian workers in the worst outbreak of violence in more than 40 years in the tightly controlled city-state.

The hour-long fracas on Sunday night, triggered when an Indian construction worker was struck and killed by a private bus in the Little India district, compelled Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to order the creation of a special committee to investigate the incident.

Police said about 400 people were involved in the riot, and that 27 South Asian workers had been arrested on charges punishable by up to seven years in prison as well as caning.